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Description

As I mentioned before I find North America`s fauna from the Tortonian-Messinian stage of the Miocene (10-5 mya) to be one of the most underrated fossil ecosystems from the Cenozoic, given it's numerous and diverse wildlife and how this ecosystem was just as much of an American Serengeti as late Pleistocene America, perhaps even more so given how this one had it's own giraffe and rhino expies in the form of the camel Aepycamelus and the rhinoceros Teleoceras.

One interesting aspect of this ecosystem is how it housed 2 types of big cats, both with saber teeth, but with entirely independent evolutionary heritages.

One was Barbourofelis fricki the last and the largest of the barbourofelids, the most basal of cats who shared a close common ancestor with Felidae, which grew up to 180-250 kg in weight and basically predated all of the distinct traits you would see in the latter Smilodon, including the bear-like build and brutish hunting technique as well as the ridiculously long canines that were used much the same way as Smilodon`s, to cut trough the prey animals windpipe.

The other one was even more massive, Amphimachairodus coloradensis was a machairodont, the more famous and classical group of "saber-toothed cats, and it grew into the vicinity of 280-330 kg, as big as the largest known tigers. In contrast to Barbourofelis this felines saber teeth were much smaller, but also much less delicate and therefore had a smaller risk of breakage when the cat attacked and subdued it's prey and it also allowed it to be far less specialized and picky with it's choice of prey.

Both cats would have coexisted with each other, competing for the same prey and the same hunting grounds across the forests and woodlands of Miocene America, and occasional clashes were likely inevitable, but they also represented an interesting scenario where 2 very similar apex predators coexisted and yet their similarities were a case of convergent evolution, the result of 2 independent liniages of saber-toothed felines.

Other animals included : Aepycamelus, Synthetoceras, Teleocera, Alligator and Ambelodon.

Description

As I mentioned before I find North America`s fauna from the Tortonian-Messinian stage of the Miocene (10-5 mya) to be one of the most underrated fossil ecosystems from the Cenozoic, given it's numerous and diverse wildlife and how this ecosystem was just as much of an American Serengeti as late Pleistocene America, perhaps even more so given how this one had it's own giraffe and rhino expies in the form of the camel Aepycamelus and the rhinoceros Teleoceras.

One interesting aspect of this ecosystem is how it housed 2 types of big cats, both with saber teeth, but with entirely independent evolutionary heritages.

One was Barbourofelis fricki the last and the largest of the barbourofelids, the most basal of cats who shared a close common ancestor with Felidae, which grew up to 180-250 kg in weight and basically predated all of the distinct traits you would see in the latter Smilodon, including the bear-like build and brutish hunting technique as well as the ridiculously long canines that were used much the same way as Smilodon`s, to cut trough the prey animals windpipe.

The other one was even more massive, Amphimachairodus coloradensis was a machairodont, the more famous and classical group of "saber-toothed cats, and it grew into the vicinity of 280-330 kg, as big as the largest known tigers. In contrast to Barbourofelis this felines saber teeth were much smaller, but also much less delicate and therefore had a smaller risk of breakage when the cat attacked and subdued it's prey and it also allowed it to be far less specialized and picky with it's choice of prey.

Both cats would have coexisted with each other, competing for the same prey and the same hunting grounds across the forests and woodlands of Miocene America, and occasional clashes were likely inevitable, but they also represented an interesting scenario where 2 very similar apex predators coexisted and yet their similarities were a case of convergent evolution, the result of 2 independent liniages of saber-toothed felines.

Other animals included : Aepycamelus, Synthetoceras, Teleocera, Alligator and Ambelodon.